As the entire crowd nodded, she slid out of the booth and stood up, swaying slightly. Wow, that ice tea really packed a punch.
"Okay, so here goes the whole embarrassing story." She heard chairs scrape the floor and turn to her. Silverware was laid down, food pushed aside, all to focus on her. A piece of her hair had escaped from behind her ear and she shoved it back in place. "Will was my first crush. We met and spent a week together in Liverpool, New York. My grandma and his were best friends at the retirement village. Miss Alda read all of her letters from home to my grandma, and then she told me all about them. I was half in love with Will one summer when I was almost thirteen and he was fifteen. We met while we visiting our grandmas. To make a long story short, he was my first kiss and it was amazing."
She heard some oohs and aahs go up from her crowd.
"Then our grandmothers interrupted and it kinda killed the mood." When the crowd laughed, she took another sip of her drink.
"Anyway, almost seventeen years have passed and as we've already established, I needed some help moving into a new town." More chuckles arose from those who were there the night they interrogated her. "And thanks to many of you, I now have the job I so desperately wanted."
Cheering went up and she took another drink, the iced tea leaving her pleasantly tingly. "Well, I arrived and Will brought me here for dinner, as you all know. But did you all know that he walked me back to Miss Lily's? I thought he was going to kiss me, and I was going to let him. Then I find out about Whitney and am totally confused as to why he's making a pass at me. Then I met Whitney and I don't want to ever again."
She realized she was rambling but couldn't stop, "So I go to the sales with June today and we're talking to Betsy and William. They are so nice. They make me miss my parents, but in a good way that reminds me of them. Anyway, sorry, back to the story. Everyone stops talking and they look right behind me. Before I can turn around, I get hit in the shoulder by this really nice Coach bag. Miss Supermodel starts accusing me of trying to replace her and moving on Will's parents. Then she accused me of being after Will's money. She even called me a ‘squatty little tramp.’"
There were angry murmurs and Kenna felt a little better.
From the crowd someone called out, "But what about Will?" People nodded approval of the question.
"What about him? I left and he was with Whitney. He's married and I'm not a squatty little tramp who breaks up marriages. I don't care if he was my first kiss and if he thinks it's okay to put the moves on me. I refuse, no matter how much I dislike his wife." She sighed and climbed back into her booth. The crowd was silent; maybe she'd said too much.
Paige turned to her, "Honey, don't you know? Whitney is…."
"He's coming!" Daisy put down her phone. "Will's on his way. He just left Lily Rae's. He was there looking for Kenna and she directed him down here. He'll be here any minute! Everyone, act casual."
Kenna buried her face in her hands and shook her head. She was thinking of banging it against the table when the bell tinkled over the door. Please, please, please, let it be someone else, Kenna thought. Anyone else…well, maybe not Whitney. But anyone else would be fine. She knew she was wasting her wishes though. The place was still dead quiet and she had goose bumps. Her nerves always went into high drive when he was near. Could anyone die of embarrassment? She heard his boot steps get louder as he came closer.
"Kenna!" Paige whispered sharply and kicked her under the table. "You need to know that Whitney is...."
"Hi, Kenna." Will had arrived and when Kenna looked up, she first saw Paige doing a little wave and pointing to her ring finger and then making some other motion.
"Hi, Will. Did you have a good day at the sales?" There, nice and polite she thought.
"I heard about Whitney. I'm so sorry. She is not a nice person anymore. It seemed as soon as I married her, her true greedy self came out." He was now at the front of the table with his back to Paige and June looking right at her. Paige was waving wildly and doing something that looked like cutting her throat. Kenna shook her head and focused back on Will.
"It's okay. You don't have to apologize for your wife, Will. I don't hold you to her actions."
"But that's just it, she's not my wife. Well, not my wife anymore." Will looked relieved and hopeful.
Kenna was just confused. "What?" was all that she could muster up.
"We've been divorced for two years. My mother thought you had the impression that we're still married, but we're not. I'm happily divorced and am not seeing anyone. I am completely free, free to ask if I can walk you home so we can talk some more." He looked at her and she felt her heart speed up.